The Promised Land!! (and a ?)

I was just sufring around and found this site. I can't tell you all how long I've been looking for an active forum devoted exclusively to the bass. I can tell that I am going to be wasting a lot of time here in the future.

On to my question. I play an American Standard P-Bass which I love. The feel, the action, the tone, everything is great except for one thing. The E string just doesn't have the brightness or punch of the other 3. This is true whether amplified or not. That is, it seems to be a function of the bass itself as opposed to pickup placement or an amplification/equalization issue. I'm wondering if anyone else has run into a problem like this and what I might try to fix it. I have used 2 or 3 brands of strings with the same result. The bridge looks fine. Could it be the nut?

check your nut, to make sure the string is seated solidly. if the groove is too big, that could be the problem. also, this is a long shot, but make sure your tuning key is tightly attached to the headstock.

hope that helps

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you wanna see a frustrated guitarist? let a guitarist try to do something useful on one of my basses. _THAT'S_ a frustrated guitarist.

The nut would only be suspect when you play an open E. If you have the problem with fretted notes on the E string, I would try different strings (had this E problem on a P bass with several sets of flats, but not with roundwounds. Are you using taperwounds? Do you press down on the string on the bridge to get a good break angle on the E string?
You did'nt say if this has been an ongoing problem. Either way, you should be able to find the right cure for it.

I had the same problem with my MIA P-bass. Since I had an opportunity to return it I did. Other 4-strings I tried had a lot more punch (MIM Jazz, Squier P-bass Special, MIA Active P-bass, Warwick Corvette FNA and Fortress, Ibanez Ergodyne and Verdine White). Only thing I tried was another set of strings, and that didn't work. I'm not much help, but I experienced what you're talking about.